Filters can instantly trash troublesome email

Sunday

Dec 15, 2013 at 6:00 AM

A reader tells us he's getting around 20 messages a day about a "dream mate." He marks them as spam, but they keep coming in. We have a magic word for him: filter.

Persistent spam can go straight to the trash if you set up a filter. Whether you use Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL or some other service, it involves clicking on "settings" and then "filters." Choose a phrase that always appears in the body of the message, such as "dream mate" or in the subject line. Then choose the folder, in this case "trash," that you want your mail sent to automatically. Other examples might be "Free credit check" or "Money-making opportunity."

This also works for mail that you want to keep and have organized into folders. Instead of having mail sent to trash, choose a folder like "newsletters" or "weekend stuff" or "Aunt Polly." That way, this stuff isn't cluttering your inbox till you're ready to look at it. For more specific instructions on how to do this, go to Google.com or whatever search engine you use, and search on "email filters."

MAKING KIDS SMARTER

A new study from SRI International found that using games from PBSKids.org made 4- and 5-year-old kids significantly smarter in math. They improved in counting and recognizing shapes and patterns. The games they played, "Cat in the Hat," "Dinosaur Train," "Curious George" and "Sid the Science Kid," are all free at PBSKids.org.

MAKING ADULTS SMARTER

Video games help older adults reverse age-related declines in memory and focus, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. After four weeks of training, participants in their 80s could beat people in their 20s. Six months later, they still could, even without practicing.

NOTE: Over more than 30 years observing adults and children playing video games, Bob found that it helped their reasoning powers as well as their concentration and dexterity; video games have an internal logic that regular players learn to analyze. The military has also found game skills useful for controlling remote mobile equipment.

THE ONION ROUTER

Thwarting a dictator or anyone else's surveillance is a whole lot easier these days. Dissidents all over the world can go under the radar with something called "the onion router," which is a free download at TorProject.org.

The onion router prevents people from learning your location or browsing habits, and protects you whether you're browsing the Web or instant messaging. It works with Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. You may have to change browsing habits somewhat to use it, since it blocks common plug-ins such as Adobe Flash, RealPlayer and Quicktime. Those programs can be manipulated into revealing your computer's IP address, which identifies your location. Fortunately, most of us don't need this level of security.

NOW PRESENTING

Every time Joy picks someone to be a speaker at her woman's club, they moan about the lack of a laser pointer for their PowerPoint presentation. We found one that's so useful we may have to get it.

The X-Presenter for iPhone is three things in one. It is about 1½-inches long and plugs into the headphone jack of your phone. The slim case doubles as a stylus for drawing on your iPhone screen. It works with a free app to transfer data from phone to computer by way of a USB dongle. The app includes a timer for your talk. X-Presenter works with PowerPoint or Keynote and is $30 from Satechi.net or Amazon.

INTERNUTS

Type the subject into your browser's search box and the sites come up:

•"Twenty Cool Abandoned Places" has pictures of some very eerie looking places, including medieval villages, decaying hotels, water slides, diamond mines and more, all abandoned, from many places around the world. There's no explanation for any of the places, but if you Google them, they are usually identified with s short history. (Gulliver's Travels, an abandoned theme park in Japan, has a view of Mt. Fuji.)

•"30 Hilarious GIFs from People experiencing instant karma." These are videos showing people getting immediate payback for their actions, like the bike racer who pushes a rival off his bike, only to be attacked by a spectator, who throws him off a bridge.

•"Photograph of the Day, National Geographic" has stunning photos. We liked the one of the women collecting kash, flowers more than 6 feet tall, to use their stems as fuel.

•Venmo is a way to pay your friends back when they buy you dinner or a movie ticket or whatever. Money you receive in your Venmo account can be transferred to your bank account overnight.

•WinStreak is a free iPhone productivity app. At the end of the day, enter your three biggest accomplishments (wins), and three for tomorrow. Share by email or social networking. Of course, you could do this on paper.

WINDOWS 8 WARNING

A reader was frustrated when Windows 8.1 didn't work well with his Fujitsu scanner, and was tempted to revert to Windows 8.0. Warning: You can go back by using the Windows "Recovery Manager," but you'll have to reinstall any programs you put on your machine. Our reader elected to download a new driver for the scanner instead.

Other readers tell us they'd like to go back to Windows 7. There's an article at PC Magazine telling you how to do it, but we don't recommend it — it's very techie. Better to familiarize yourself with Windows 8 shortcuts. (Google that term to find them.) If you're like us, you'll end up liking it better than Windows 7.

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